Show aims to keep Enga Identity

East Enga's Talu Sepik head-wara sing sing group performing at Wabag town during the Enga Cultural Show.

Wabag, Enga Province, came alive once again for the 22^nd time with various traditional hymns and diverse traditional dancing groups from all over the province for the annual Enga Cultural Show on the 5^th of August.

After the 20^th Enga show two years ago, the show committee had aimed to promote purely the Engan Culture which saw over 30 different groups performing traditional dances, rituals, and displaying Enga’s unique flora and fauna, customary way of life to target the preservation of Engan Culture and Identity.

Chairlady for the Engan Cultural Show, Margaret Potane said Enga as a province is aiming to make sure the traditional knowledge, culture and its way of life is not lost in today’s Morden culture.



Traditional Dancers from Mul-Baiyer .
 



Mrs Potane who has chaired the provincial culture show since its inception in 1994 said the show has reached its aim to promote the province’s culture where it is not only displayed every year through the show but has also been documented and will be thought as a curriculum to the school’s in the provinces.

“This is actually the second Engan show because after the 20^th year two years ago, we have decided to not include outside sing sing groups but only from Enga. As much as possible we want to preserve our Engan Identity where we have started to include our children in the high schools in the show.

“I’m happy to say that the entire province has taken part where our children has a chance to learn every year about their culture before western influence. We want to keep it the Engan way and the positive outcome for the show is the preservation of our culture as a province because when we first started in 1994, our costumes were scarce. As the year progressed and the show became an annual event, our people started re-producing our dying traditional costumes and revived a lot of our traditional practices which would have easily faded away. “

Potane said the Enga culture is very intact where the province has created its own cultural curriculum which was recently accepted by the National Education Board and have been thought in schools throughout the province since last year.

The curriculum will be launched on the 16^th of September this year where the province anticipates to hand pick elders from different communities in the province to teach the curriculum in the local Engan dialect to students annually as part of the show.



Chairlady of the annual Enga Cultural show, Mrs Magaret Potane, showing off the Engan cultural curriculum which has been approved by the Education Board of PNG and will be thought in every school in the province.